First successful pig liver transplant in human signifies a new era in medicine

In a unique medical procedure, a 50-year-old man in China, who was clinically declared dead, has become the world’s first recipient of a pig liver transplant. This signifies a significant achievement in the field of xenotransplantation only two years after a 57-year-old, terminally ill American received a heart transplant from a pig. In 2022, doctors transplanted a pig kidney into a human, which has the potential to make the dreaded dialysis obsolete.

These accomplishments could shape the future of the organ transplantation crisis, where the demand far exceeds the supply.

A Leap Forward in Organ Transplantation

This groundbreaking surgery took place at Xijing Hospital of the Air Force Medical University in Xi’an, China. The liver was obtained from a Bama miniature pig, genetically modified so that the human body doesn’t reject it. For ten days, the transplanted liver continued to function before being surgically removed. During this time, it secreted 30 millilitres of bile per day. That’s a sign that it was working, although the human liver typically produces 800 to 1,000 milliliters of bile every day.

Earlier, in January 2024, surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania connected a brain-dead patient to a machine the size of a refrigerator with a pig liver inside it. This outside-the-body liver worked for three days.

The new advancement marks the first occasion a xenotransplant liver has been proven to function inside the human body. It involved a challenging nine-hour surgery, during which the original liver remained in place, Nature reported.

Progress with caveats

Despite the success of this proof of concept, the field of xenotransplantation faces numerous challenges. The liver is one of the most complex organs, making it particularly challenging to transplant from animals to humans. The liver’s role in detoxification and protein synthesis is intricate. Pig livers may only serve as a temporary solution instead of a long-term replacement, but perhaps future breakthroughs could overcome this limitation.

There are also important ethical considerations and regulatory standards that need to be addressed. Unanswered questions remain regarding the long-term effects, rejection rates, and the potential for cross-species disease transmission from animal-sourced organ transplants.

Researchers and medical professionals are closely monitoring these developments, eager for more detailed data on the procedure’s safety, functional benefits, and the immune response in humans. The ultimate goal is to refine these techniques so that, one day, it could become a safe procedure that adds years of quality life for patients, potentially saving thousands of lives annually.